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-   The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)
-   -   WE ARE THE 1%ers (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/we-1ers-343304/)

OrangeBlossomBaby 08-10-2023 04:42 PM
I didn't have a slide rule OR an electric calculator when I was growing up. We had to do all our math on paper. I did learn how to use an abacus in 1st grade, and when I worked for the dairy in the 2000's my boss taught me how to use a slide rule. I was over 30 years old by then and was already writing computer code, but my boss Jack was amazing with that slide rule.

Boffin 08-10-2023 04:42 PM
Age 65
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DONS999 (Post 2243430)
99% of those born between 1930 and 1946 (worldwide) are now dead.
If you were born in this time span, you are one of the rare surviving one percenters of this special group.
Their ages range is between 77 and 93 years old, a 16-year age span.


INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE 1% ERS:

§ You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's.
You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.

With no TV, you spent your childhood "playing outside".

There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

We got “black-and-white” TV in the late 40s that had 3 stations and no remote.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening (your dad would give you the comic pages when he read the news).

New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes (no interstates).

You went downtown to shop. You walked to school.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves.

You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.

You came of age in the '50s and '60s.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

World War 2 was over, and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life.

Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.

More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

If you have already reached the age of 77 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people in the world who were born in this special 16 year time span. You are a 1% 'er"!
About 14% of the U.S. population is 65 or more years of age.
Life expectancy at age 65 is currently about 20.5 years for females and 18 years for males.

Michael G. 08-10-2023 04:46 PM
Just think, someday 50years from now they'll look back on 2023 and say those were the good times.

Carla B 08-10-2023 05:41 PM
Unlike the non 1%'er skeptics on here, I remember all these things. And they are not made up. My older brother was born in 1930, my younger brother in 1946 and I in the middle. We are all still alive and living independently. Especially the boys enjoy good health.

I remember ration books, especially for sugar. My dad owned and ran a small refinery during the war and I remember gas rationing. I remember blackouts when we closed the drapes and turned out the lights. My mother saved every bit of meat fat and poured it into a wide metal aluminum can with a strainer built in. We had a ten-party phone line and you could listen in to everyone's conversation. My mother said there were three things a woman should know before going out into the world and she made sure I learned all of them: how to type (I went to summer school to learn that before sixth grade), how to drive a car, and how to operate a sewing machine.

I was in high school when television became really popular and, of course, by then I was preoccupied with other things. Radio was, however, my entertainment throughout the early years and I still remember the Alden radio I received in response to my Christmas wish when I was an adolescent. Loved the detective shows, like "The Shadow,", "The Thin Man," etc., and went to sleep listening to a soap opera.

Polio was a huge threat and we avoided swimming pools. I did know a couple of kids my age got it. One spent time in an iron lung. It was such a relief years later when the vaccine came out.

All things considered, my brothers and I think we were fortunate to live in the best of times.

OrangeBlossomBaby 08-10-2023 05:47 PM
Carla B, my point was that - much of this didn't apply to people born in the last years of that "1%" era - such as the Great Depression, which was over before they were born. And much of it isn't specific or exclusive to the "1%" era - such as going out to play, or walking to the store, or not using electric calculators. And at least one item was simply - untrue. The city playgrounds, which first existed over 20 years before the FIRST 1%'er was born.

Here's another fun fact about the term "1%ers" or "One Percenters" - it is the designation of the 1% of motorcycle clubs that are outlaws. This designation was coined in response to a comment made by the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) in 1947, about how 99% of bikers are lawful. That 1% were the outliers (most of whom were born prior to 1930).

Carla B 08-10-2023 07:53 PM
The 1% era for purposes of this thread ends in 1946 as that is when the "Baby Boomer" era, 1946 to 1964, began.

Nanettek3 08-11-2023 06:06 AM
Great read. Parents are 90!
 
Feeling blessed to still have both my parents with me. They are living on their own in the village of Bonita and we live In Woodbury.we talk everyday and visit them several times a week. They have so many stories to share.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DONS999 (Post 2243430)
99% of those born between 1930 and 1946 (worldwide) are now dead.
If you were born in this time span, you are one of the rare surviving one percenters of this special group.
Their ages range is between 77 and 93 years old, a 16-year age span.


INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE 1% ERS:

§ You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's.
You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.

With no TV, you spent your childhood "playing outside".

There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

We got “black-and-white” TV in the late 40s that had 3 stations and no remote.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening (your dad would give you the comic pages when he read the news).

New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes (no interstates).

You went downtown to shop. You walked to school.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves.

You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.

You came of age in the '50s and '60s.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

World War 2 was over, and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life.

Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.

More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

If you have already reached the age of 77 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people in the world who were born in this special 16 year time span. You are a 1% 'er"!

gmpmex 08-11-2023 06:09 AM
Grease
 
I am a war baby at 81 years old December 7, 1941, and intend to be here a lot longer than I imagined.

mikeycereal 08-11-2023 06:34 AM
Yep, mom & Dad were born in that era.

When Dad opened up the newspaper he'd ask me "Wanna see the funnies?" and pass it over to me.

Mom collected the grease in those tomato cans. They would cool and turn solid.

We had a B&W TV early on before color. I still played outside a lot, sometimes on mom's encouragement.

When the color TV got older after turning it on it would make loud cracking sounds while warming up.

MandoMan 08-11-2023 06:50 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by mtdjed (Post 2243452)
Interesting observation but I would question the statements. I was born in Sep 1944 and cannot really relate to anything much prior to the 1950's.

I don't recall the winds of war, ration books. When I was of age there was Little League, city parks were abundant. TV was not missed since it was actually new and anticipated. Wasn't concerned about Interstates until I drove, and they existed at that time.

I can recall living with people who experienced some of those things.

When I became a Boy Scout , my grandfather thought they were like a German Nazi Youth Corp.
I can remember Uncle walking to store with tin can to get milk.

Remember Slide Rule in college, Kool Aid, Spam, School buses, Crystal Radios etc.
Thought-provoking post and comments. My dad is 94, born in 1928. One thing about the Depression people forget is that while up to 25% of the working population (mostly men) were out of work, 75% of workers DID have work. For many people then, the unemployed were numerous, but a lot like the homeless today in California—you saw them, but that doesn’t mean you interacted with them. We came very close to falling into that in 2020, but fortunately Congress chose to borrow trillions and support businesses and people during the previous administration as well as in this one—a daring but very expensive rescue. The Depression hit much harder in some areas and neighborhoods than in others. One of my grandfathers was a preacher, and his family, including my dad, did fine until 1936, when my grandfather went temporarily blind, and the family had to move from a very nice house to a tarpaper shack in Idaho with no plumbing except an outside cold water tap. That only lasted less than a year, but it was a frightening year. My maternal grandfather lost his job at a candy factory, and he and his wife and four daughters moved in with his sister’s family in New Jersey for several years.

I was born in Virginia in ‘53. We had milk delivered to our home in Alexandria until ‘62. We were given a used black and white television around 1960. By then 90% of American households had one, but in 1950 it was only 9%. 1960-62 we drove once or twice a year from Alexandria to Nashville to visit my grandparents, who had moved there. The first time, most of the drive was on two lane highway. Motels were rare. What people stayed at when traveling on two-lane highways were things called Motor Courts, or something like that. Little cabins, often in a row, often with bare studs on the inside, maybe with a bathroom or maybe a bath-house everyone shared. Then can still be seen here and there. There is one on Highway 301 just north of Wildwood. People still live there, but now it’s full-time rentals. By 1962, parts of it was interstate highway. In late 1962, we moved to Northern California. At that time, only parts of I-80 were complete. Every time we drove on I-80 or I-70 during the 60s and early 70’s we marveled as new stretches were opened and our journeys grew faster. People tend to think that Eisenhower gave commands and we had an Interstate Highway system, but that’s not the way it was at all. With the interstate highways came Howard Johnson’s motels and restaurants, and endless Stuckey’s gas stations and shops.

I need to call my dad today and ask what he remembers about rationing during World War II. He was a teen then.

NoMo50 08-11-2023 07:55 AM
My wife and I are not part of this 1% group, having been born in the mid-50's. Our parents were born in the mid-30's, so even they have no real memories of the depression, or its after effects. But, I do think we grew up in a terrific time period. In our youth:

You did your playing outside. If you were inside the house during non-school hours, it was because you were being punished.

All of our friends were real people who you interacted with on a regular basis, not a group of avatars on a phone who you rarely, if ever, see in person.

We ate our meals with our family, cooked by mom, and talked about everything under the sun. Eating out was a rare treat.

We learned how to fix things, and be self sufficient. We were taught early on to accept responsibility for your actions...this really wasn't an option.

We respected our parents and our elders.

We were taught the value of earning our own money, and you didn't buy something until you had saved up for it.

Discipline for wrongful actions was swift and certain. I might screw up again, but I sure as heck am not going to do that again.

There are, of course, many more things that could be added to this list. Obviously, I feel we grew up in some of the best of times.

Vermilion Villager 08-11-2023 07:56 AM
77 to 93.....Sounds like Spanish Springs on any given Tuesday!:girlneener::eclipsee_gold_cup:

OrangeBlossomBaby 08-11-2023 09:34 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoMo50 (Post 2243943)
My wife and I are not part of this 1% group, having been born in the mid-50's. Our parents were born in the mid-30's, so even they have no real memories of the depression, or its after effects. But, I do think we grew up in a terrific time period. In our youth:
I was born in 1961. My parents were born in the 40's. Dad's 93 now, mom I think turns 90 this year.
Quote:
You did your playing outside. If you were inside the house during non-school hours, it was because you were being punished.
I did both, but also I liked to read and spent a lot of time inside for that reason. The whole neighborhood played together though - we all could go in and out of each others' houses, every mom was our "mom." It didn't take a village to raise us kids, but it did take a neighborhood.

Quote:
All of our friends were real people who you interacted with on a regular basis, not a group of avatars on a phone who you rarely, if ever, see in person.
Though we did use the phone a LOT. The one attached to the wall in the kitchen.

Quote:
We ate our meals with our family, cooked by mom, and talked about everything under the sun. Eating out was a rare treat.
Once a month we'd go to Sorrento's, where Johnny and Irene were our hosts and made our favorite pizza. Dad had white birch beer, and we'd play "Sweet Caroline" on the juke box. Mom and dad were both working, so often we'd have TV dinners or fishsticks; but mom did cook from scratch several days a week.

Quote:
We learned how to fix things, and be self sufficient. We were taught early on to accept responsibility for your actions...this really wasn't an option.
They tried. We didn't always learn. But they did try.

Quote:
We respected our parents and our elders.
Mostly, yes. Depended on the parents. Most parents were responsible adults who didn't spend all their time glued to the TV, yelling about how this politician is a crook or that politician can fix America, or that other politician's wife is a so-and-so, etc. etc. Our parents led by example, for better or for worse. If they earned our respect, then they got it. If not, then they didn't. Same as now, same as always. Respect is earned, not mandated.

Quote:
We were taught the value of earning our own money, and you didn't buy something until you had saved up for it.
I was fortunate to have parents and grandparents who could afford to buy things for me that I "wanted" (but didn't need), but I had to earn the privilege through good behavior, being a good person, helping other people, demonstrating kindness, and keeping my room clean (that was a big one, heh). I didn't have to buy my own clothes, or bicycles, or jewelry, until I was in college. And even then I got a monthly stipend to cover necessary expenses. However I also got an allowance, which was eliminated when I turned 16. It was assumed I would work part time, and so I did. I earned more than my allowance had previously paid, so it all worked out great. I learned how to budget that way.

Quote:
Discipline for wrongful actions was swift and certain. I might screw up again, but I sure as heck am not going to do that again.
Disciplinary action didn't work very well on me. "You and what army" was my catch-phrase. They could beat me til I was black and blue and it wouldn't stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Take the door off my bedroom? So what? I'll just do whatever I wanted with the door open. They knew better than to go to those extremes. I was more stubborn than they were and I'd always win, anyway. Fortunately, I was (mostly) a good kid. I got spankings once in awhile but it hurt their hand more than it stung my butt, and it didn't teach me any lessons.

Quote:
There are, of course, many more things that could be added to this list. Obviously, I feel we grew up in some of the best of times.
There were no "best" times. There were only "best" circumstances, regardless of the times.

There were people who lived in poverty during your times. There were kids whose parents beat them during your times. There were families whose yards were beset with burning crosses during your times. There were dads who were gamblers and their families threatened unless the debts paid during your times. There were people who died from what is -now- preventable cancer during your times.

Best circumstances. Not best times.

Jhrath7@gmail.com 08-11-2023 10:00 AM
I am one of the 1% ! Many of my friends have passed away and some at a very early age….in their 40’s and 50’s. We had a great childhood playing outside when you came home when the streetlights came on. Nobody “entertained” us as we did it ourselves. My family had little, but, that didn’t matter as my Mother never made us feel different!

zuidemab 08-11-2023 10:50 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by DAVES (Post 2243548)
I had a minor in psychology. One of the things I remember is we go through some tough normal life phases. First say 15 ish what will I do with my life. At 65 ish what have I done with my life.

I've not made 77 yet but close. We all know people our age who have passed. We recently did a new Will now Florida law compatible. You are forced to face your life to is temporary.

We tend to think people were better in the OLD DAYS. I read a lot of history. I am regularly shocked at the fact that people have always had the same weaknesses. I have an in depth book about the Wright brothers. First powered flight flight was 1903. Many of their letters etc have been preserved. They complained about reporters writing about things they did not understand without asking. They complained about reporters copying misinformation from other reporters and claiming it as their own work. Powered flight was a world competition. There were huge prizes offered. They also complained about national bias in the press.

Another book about Cummings diesel. Around 1918, gasoline engines were rare and diesels were almost unknown. Cummings got a contract with Sears for small diesel engines. To meet projected demand they had to expand. They spent a fortune like any other start up company money they could not afford to loose. It was a disaster for the company. A mail order company
Sears, sort of Amazon, sold product with the right to return. The customer would not only get their money back but the shipping. People WERE honest in the old days? What they discovered was that people were buying the engines using them for the 90 days. Allowing neighbors to use them and then returning them for full credit including shipping.

Point-people were not any better in the good old days.
We all live in the best of times. Because we are alive!


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